Les Miserables is a bit of everything. We have a constant chase, a character study, a love story, a story of triumph, of an uprising and a revolution. It's a story about class, and comedy, morality, legality, death and song. We follow Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman, The Prestige) from his stand off with the jailer Jarvet (Russell Crowe, A Beautiful Mind) on ending his imprisonment through to forming another identity and trying to live his life with his new found faith in God. His story intersects with that of Fantine (Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises), a woman desperately attempting to feed her child anyway possible now the child's father has left them. Oh yeah, and this all happens around the 1832 Paris uprising.
Let's start with the cast, as far as I'm concerned, it was perfect. Hugh Jackman belongs on a stage, he should always be singing and dancing. Anne Hathaway, with her rendition of "I Dreamed A Dream" had me welling up - and not many songs or films for that matter can do that. It was heart-wrenching and seemed honestly distraught and defeated. Russell Crowe has been slated for his performance, but I see no problem their at all. He was reserved, but riling when he needed to be. Amanda Seyfried, Samantha Barks, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Eddie Redmayne also put in fantastic performances. Helena Bonham Carter is also not half as annoying as usual! Hats off to the casting department, is all I can say.
Now, the singing and the direction of the musical pieces. Wonderfully Tom Hooper's (The King's Speech) choice to use on-set singing paid off. You could hear in each note that the actor's weren't just mimed, but were felt and made in the moment. The ability of the camera to get into the faces of each character just added to this, notably on the bearded and broken Valjean. The scene where he is troubled by his calling to God, and is pacing in front of a church's alter just allows every nuance of his face to be realized in a way even the greatest stage presence could not portray. Subtlety is key.
I don't know if the build up and the praise rather showed my hand, in that there is a huge "But..." coming. I want to use this, otherwise fantastic, film of the year quality film to make a point. Can we stop using CGI for entire sets and backdrops, please? Why does anyone think this is a good idea? It looks tacky, and it looks silly. It pretty much ruined this movie, just making it seem cheap, modern and silly. The scenes on the barricades looked iconic, and looked beautiful in parts; it just makes you wonder why it couldn't all look that way. If it can be done on a stage, it does not need these tremendously terrible, computer generated, scenic shots. Just Stop It.
Over all, I really enjoyed the film, even when it was being silly, and even when it didn't make sense, well that didn't matter. I can imagine such a better film, and all it needed was for some cost cutting on CGI. It doesn't seem much, but really it is a major problem in this film, and in general.
Go and see it. Make your mind up for yourself, but I must say I'll be watching it again. And again. And again.
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